The Christmas Rundown

This Christmas was not like any one I've ever had for many reasons. Obviously, mom wasn't here. That was sad and awful, but mostly on the days leading up to Christmas. Getting Christmas stuff out, going shopping, imagining what it would be like if mom was here, wrapping presents...that really was difficult, but Christmas day was truly as good as it possibly could have been given our circumstances. We've never had Christmas at my house before and it was so fun to see all the presents in our living room and have the kids sleep in their own beds and just be able to open all the toys without worrying about parts getting lost. So, here's my Christmas rundown of all the things I want to remember about Christmas 2009.

1. Dogs, dogs, and more dogs.

When it comes to my family, dogs are always invited. It almost wouldn't be like having Christmas with my family without having at least 3 large dogs roaming the house. So, we had Millie, Brock, Fiona, Pandi, and of course, our little Penny along with the fam that came to my house. It really wasn't a problem at all, except that our kitchen floor almost killed Brock because he just couldn't figure out how to walk on it without almost falling down and knocking down everything around him. Marc and Em have worked very hard with their dogs to make them well behaved and well behaved they were.

2. Unsuspected visitors.

Shortly after Emily and Marc arrived, I received a phone call from Shauna. I almost didn't answer it because I was making food for our little BYU bowl party we were having, but luckily I did because she and her three kids were stranded at the airport! They missed their connecting flight because of weather and so we were lucky enough to get to spend an extra night with them! I was thrilled, the kids were thrilled, but poor Shauna really just wanted to be home. But even though there was chaos, we were so happy to get more time with our cousins!

Things we learned....Daisy really needs a puppy! Come on, Ben! Just get her one!

And Kaylee really does hate to get her picture taken. She was having a hard day anyway, and I just make it worse by sticking my big camera in her face. I even bribed her with candy and that is when she went out of the room screaming because her mom would get mad at her.

She did make eye contact with me once...sorry, shauna...I couldn't resist.

3. Sledding
Okay, I never actually went sledding, but I have some good excuses! The first day I had to make the turkey...we always have the 'big' dinner on Christmas Eve so we can all just play and relax on Christmas and the turkey needed to go in. So, I stayed while everyone went down the street to 'the pit' to sled. I think I'm sort of a snow snob now because I just kept thinking about how there was no 'good' snow and that it would hurt. But if you're from San Diego, any snow is good snow. But, I must say that my turkey was fabulous and my stuffing was almost exactly like mom's. It's a good thing I watched her so many times. Then the next day they wanted to sled again, but Claira was cranky and sick so I graciously stayed home and stayed warm. But everyone else had a fabulous time! Thanks to Erin for the pictures!

4. Family.

Let's be honest. My family has been through the wringer this year. Seriously. So many hard things to deal with...so many emotions to sort out. But, throughout it all, we have stuck together and have become more close than we were before. Than has been amazing all year learning how to deal with an overly emotional grieving wife, the kids are so happy and show me so much love and sometimes actually 'get it' about grandma. Camry had a dream a few weeks ago that Grandma was at Christmas with us. I'm pretty sure she was.

I tried to take a picture of the kids in their new BYU pj's and just as I did, Claira's bow fell off her head right in front of her face. The kids thought it was the funniest thing ever. The greatness of the digital age...immediate gratification. :)

Christmas Eve Dinner. Maybe next year I'll have a beautiful table and a gorgeous centerpiece and not use plastic glasses....or maybe not. :)

Every Christmas morning, mom has always made turkey omelets with a yummy cheese sauce over them. Emily and Marc stepped in this year to keep our tradition alive and well.

I love my sisters. They left today and I was so sad. We are blessed to have each other. I think each of us worked a little harder this year to make Christmas bearable...and it worked.

5. Presents, Presents, and more Presents

We love presents. Love them, love them, love them. And we all got more than our share this year.

Pacen got his Max Hall jersey from Santa and within minutes he had ran into his room and had to find a black, long sleeved shirt to put under it so he could look just like Max. He has worn that shirt everyday since, and today he was bummed that he spilled on it while I was relieved that he might actually take it off long enough for me to wash it!

Camry was all about presents this year. All she wanted to do was open more, but she was completely satisfied when she opened her Princess Castle from Santa. It was like she was on a search until she found it and then she could be truly happy. And she loves it and can be found with her little princesses all throughout the days.

Than bought me many presents, but this is one of my favorites! The penguin race game!!!! We saw it in some weird store in the mall and I just talked and talked about how we used to have one or maybe mom had it in her classroom and I loved it. Why...I don't know, but it was just great childhood memories. And now the kids love it, too!

I'm telling you...hours of entertainment!

Erin is 32. She loves Twilight. And she's not even Mormon. I love it. What I love more is that when Emily went to Nordstrom to buy this shirt, someone had to help her pick out one because she has no idea what Twilight is really even about. She hasn't read this or Harry Potter. I know! Apparently, getting your masters in Roman History entails a lot of reading. Whatever.

6. One mini-Major Breakdown

The night before Christmas even, I had my mini-major breakdown. I just couldn't keep it all together and we we were wrapping presents and were all together and I just wanted everything to be great for everyone. I'm not typically the perfectionist type, and I know things aren't going to be the same now that mom is gone, but I wanted them to be close to the same and make Christmas wonderful for everyone. So, I had a good cry...sob rather. Than helped me pull it together and then he told me how he saw one of his presents in the van and I lost it again. It's kind of funny when I think of it now, but I was just sooo emotional and wasn't quite sure where everything was coming from. We're good now. There were other sad moments, but overall there was a great feeling of love and the Christmas spirit.

7. The Excitement of Christmas

Pacen and Camry were so excited for Santa to come this year. We had to get everything just right...cookies and milk in place...fireplace doors open just enough. Marc showed them Santa on the Santa Tracker thing. You could just feel their anticipation. After I read to them The Night Before Christmas, I was watching Pacen in his room and he stood up on his bed to look out his window. You could see his little face just wishing to see Santa. So sweet.

In the morning, Pacen was so happy to see all the presents but his eyes just lit up when he saw only a few crumbs on the plate we left for Santa. Believe in the magic baby. He found the note Santa left and just couldn't believe it. I love Christmas!!!

8. Camry is Smart...and had pink eye.

If you ever read Jana's blog, you would see that her entire family had pink eye. I did my best to avoid all of them, and was even bragging about how I didn't get it. Then, Camry's eyes got all puffy and nasty so we went right over to Jana's to get Cali's eye drops (I know...not safe...but it was Christmas Eve!) and it only lasted 2 days and was completely clear. Yeah. And no one else has it...yet.

And this girl is a thinker. She had a conversation with Than about how her princess castle must not have come from santa because Daddy had to put it together. She said, "But how did elves make my Princess Castle? You put it together." Next year we have to make sure all gifts from Santa come preassembled! What were we thinking??? Oh, maybe that she is three and would never think of something like that! That girl.

9. Hawaii 5-0

While we were in Hawaii, Loren said how he loved Hawaii 5-0 but wasn't sure why. So Than and I got it for him and have watched a few episodes. I must say that it is the precurser to our much beloved 24. Steve McGarrett is Jack Bauer 40 years ago. We'll be watching many more this week while Loren is with us.

10. Temple Square.

We braved the cold for 30 minutes to see the beautiful lights. Surrouding that we went to Thaiphoon for yummy dinner and Dee's for yummy ice cream sundays. You can't beat that.

And Sunday morning we headed back for Music and the Spoken Word. We are lucky to live in Utah and have all of that right at our fingertips.

11. Max!!!!!!! Our new pet frog!!!!!

Yep, we have a frog. Pacen got to name him...can you tell??? We were hoping for Admiral Ackbar or Darth Maul to fit with the Degobah theme, but Max hall rules in our house. Don't worry. He eats live crickets. We have to feed the crickets red potato in order to keep them alive so we can feed them to Max. What did Marc get us in to?!?!?! The kids love it and he really is the coolest frog you've ever seen!

12. Remembering the real meaning of Christmas.

We really tried to help the kids remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we have this wonderful holiday. This is as far as we got with our Nativity...next year we'll have to plan better but it did help to remind me that we were celebrating His birth and that He is our Savior and that we are blessed.

A Request for Victoria...

While we were in Hawaii, BYU played the University of Utah. During that game, we had the opportunity to watch the game in a luxury cabana at the Ritz Carlton thanks to my cousin's husband, Anthony. What we learned from that game is that Olivia, that sweet baby in the picture, is BYU's secret weapon. When she was awake 'watching the game', BYU did awesome. When she was sleeping, BYU struggled. She woke up in overtime and BYU won the game and all was right in the world. We love Olivia!

Tonight BYU plays Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. We're counting on Olivia to wear that BYU shirt to give out the good winning vibes for our Cougars!

And this is Olivia's older sister, Ella, who has got to be one of the most beautiful children of all time. Seriously...who doesn't want skin like hers?!?!?!?! Victoria and Anthony better watch out when she's a teenager. :)

The past three and a half days have been a little crazy. Thursday night we left at 6:30pm and drove to Wellington, Nevada to visit my sweet grandpa Gentry and Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike. We arrived at 2 in the morning and I kept telling Pacen we were going to visit my grandpa Gentry and he said, "But mom...is he my grandpa, too??" We had a great little breakfast with them and was reminded of how Claira does not sleep without a crib. With very little sleep we headed off to Oroville just in time to not have to help decorate for Becca's wedding :) and went to...where else...La Comida with the Hancock crew. All the cousins got to play in the hot tub with Uncle Nano and then were off to bed for a busy saturday wedding day. Saturday was Becca and Kyle's sealing in the Sacramento Temple and then reception that night. It was a great day and I can't wait to post pictures of it. It was super fun and everything went perfectly. She even lost something as is custom with most Hancock weddings. I lost my shoes...Shauna lost her wedding license...I don't think Kaylee lost anything....and becca lost a bridesmaid dress. Maybe it's actually good luck to lose something. :)\

Then we had Christmas morning with all the cousins and family where my kids got way too many fun gifts and are so excited to play with them after they wake up from their naps. And oh, how we needed naps this morning. They were cranky...not playing well with each other, crying over nothing...and then I was getting frustrated and had to have a talk with Camry and Pacen about not crying and screaming over nothing and Pacen says, "Mom, you're being kind of mad." That's when I shot him the 'do you really want to go there' look. And he retreats and says, "Well, just a little mad. And if you're mad Santa will know and he won't give you any presents." Oh my heck! He's just the sweetest little guy sometimes. So concerned about my getting presents from the big guy. Love it.

I'm glad that I at least did one little tiny Christmas craft with my kids this year. I don't know if it was just Hawaii or the weirdness of mom not being here for Christmas this year or what, but I have just been scraping by I feel like. Not having a lot of time to do anything really fun and cool with the kids for Christmas, just being too busy but not getting a lot done. But I did find this box that I took from my mom's school stuff. It was just beads and pipe cleaners that you make into a little candy cane, but the kids loved it. I remember doing this with mom in her classroom I think. And we also made little reindeer out of candy canes. My mom loved anything with antlers. She'd always call animals furry four leggers. Man I miss that lady.

Claira wanted to make one but she just kept dumping out our box. Life is so fun with a toddler!

The day before we left packer and benji were over and were playing Santa and Rudolph and Than got in on the action and they could not get enough.

And then we tried to let them all fall asleep since J and B were going to be late. It would have probably worked if Claira had had a bed (Cali was using hers). She kept coming in and out and laying down then getting back up and come tell us some typical Claira jibberish, then go back and everyone would just laugh and laugh. Fun night.

Now my family starts coming into town tomorrow! Yeah!!!! I cannot wait to see them and celebrate with them and make them dress up and act out the Christmas story with us!!! They are going to just LOVE it!